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JBSED
2,1
34
Received 10 September 2021
Revised 3 January 2022
15 February 2022
Accepted 15 February 2022
Journal of Business and Socio-
economic Development
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2022
pp. 34-48
Emerald Publishing Limited
e-ISSN: 2635-1692
p-ISSN: 2635-1374
DOI 10.1108/JBSED-09-2021-0118
Female labour force participation
rate and economic growth in
sub-Saharan Africa: “a liability or
an asset”
Kesuh Jude Thaddeus
Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria,
Enugu, Nigeria
Dimna Bih and Njimukala Moses Nebong
Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, University of Bamenda,
Bambili, Cameroon
Chi Aloysius Ngong
Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria,
Enugu, Nigeria
Eric Achiri Mongo
Department of Banking and Finance, Catholic University of Cameroon,
Bamenda, Cameroon
Akume Daniel Akume
Department of Higher Technical Teacher, Training College BUEA,
University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon, and
Josaphat Uchechukwu Joe Onwumere
Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria,
Enugu, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aimed examining the contribution of female labour force participation rate on economic
growth in the sub-Saharan Africa during the period of 1991–2019.
Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a sample of 42 sub-Sahara African countries using
annual data from the World Bank development indicators. The long-run causal effect of female labour force and
economic growth was analysed using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model and Granger causality test for
causality and direction since the variables did not have the same order of integration.
Findings – The estimated results indicate that a long-run causal relationship exists between female labour
force and economic growth in sub-Sahara Africa and the direction of causality is unidirectional running from
economic growth to female labour force. The results also showed that female labour force participation rate
negatively and significantly contributes to economic growth (GDP) is sub-Saharan Africa in the long run with
an insignificantly negative contribution in the short run hence a liability.
© Kesuh Jude Thaddeus, Dimna Bih, Njimukala Moses Nebong, Chi Aloysius Ngong, Eric Achiri Mongo,
Akume Daniel Akume and Josaphat Uchechukwu Joe Onwumere. Published in Journal of Business and
Socio-economic Development. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under
the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and
create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full
attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://
creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode.
Research limitations/implications – The author recommends the promotion of women’s economic FLFPR and
empowerment to encourage female labour force participation to increase economic growth in the entire sub-
Saharan region. economic
Practical implications – This paper adds to existing literature by using more comprehensive and up to growth in sub-
econometric analysis and variables. This paper also makes further recommendation on how female labour
force participation can boost economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Saharan Africa
Originality/value – This paper adds to existing literature by using more comprehensive and up to
econometric analysis and variables. This paper also makes further recommendation on how female labour
force participation can boost economic growth in SSA. 35
Keywords GDP, Female labour force, Male labour force, Fertility rate, Sub-Saharan Africa, ARDL
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
The talk about women’s participation in the labour force and economic growth is complicated
and reflect changes in the pattern of economic growth, educational attainment, fertility rates,
employment and social norms of a country. Women make up more than half of the world’s
population, but what they contribute to measured economic activity, economic growth and
well-being does not reflect their number in the economy. According to the World Bank (2013)
women account for 40% of the global labour force and more precisely on a country level,
women constitute around half of any country’s human endowment. However, in most countries,
women labour force participation is much less than that of men. According to the IMF (2013),
the average gender participation gap – which is the difference between male and female labour
force participation rates (FLFPRs) – has been falling since 1990. However, this may be due to
the worldwide decline in male labour force participation rates rather than an increase in female
labour participation rate, hence male–female differences still remain substantial.
Boserup (1970) pointed out that in developing countries, the majority of women’s work
take place in non-market activities – in the home or the informal sector. However, some
developing countries are experiencing an increase in women participation in the labour force.
Three reasons account for this statement. First, because of economic development and the
consequent population shift from rural and agricultural sectors, more women desire
participating in the labour force. Second, because of higher level of education, women tend to
participate more in order to capture returns on their investment. Finally, falling real incomes
of households and rising poverty in certain countries seem to have persuaded women to
participate in the labour force in greater numbers.
Recent economic literature show increasing interest on the role of women labour force
towards economic development. According to Amaina et al. (2019) increasing rates of female
labour force is due to increase in education and an increase in the diversity of economic
activities. As the size of the economy expands women access to the labour market easily,
leading to an increase in women participation in productive activities. Increasing women
participation in economic activities is considered necessary for many reasons; it improves
their social and economic position and hence leading to an increase in overall economic
efficiency of the nations, it decreases gender gap in human capital leading to higher
productivity of women in labour force and increase sectoral share of women employment in
different sectors of the economy.
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the place of the woman was known to be in the kitchen and
also for childbearing (Ahinkorah et al., 2020). The propagation of human rights and the
worsening living standards of families have now made this idea to become mundane and
outdated such that women have become full participants of the labour force. Many women are
becoming self-employed (including men), due to difficulty in securing paid jobs from both
private and public sectors. According to the United Nations (2000), the proportion of self-
employed women among exposed women doubled in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding
JBSED Southern Africa) from 44% in 1970 to 90% in 1990. The percentage also increased in Northern
2,1 Africa.
In sub-Saharan Africa as illustrated in Figure 1, World Development Indicator (2020)
reflects that FLFPRs have varied substantially across the years (1991–2019). It shows that
the FLFPR among females above 15 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa had registered a
steady rise from 1991 right up to 2006 where it recoded 60.71% rate as the highest. The rate
substantially dropped sharply to 60.27% in 2012 and was the lowest so far then started rising
36 back steadily in 2014 with a percentage of 60.28% and till present (2019) with a percentage of
60.59%. This clearly indicates that the female labour force rate participation has a U-shape.
This follows that in the initial stage of economic growth where limited access to education
brought forth a low-skilled population caused the agricultural sector to be very productive.
This means that at the primary stage female labour participation was somewhat high but as
the economy moves along the growth patterns; the industrial sector is gradually substituted
for the agricultural sector, female participation falls. This is due to the fact that activities in
these sectors like mining and construction create unfavourable ground for female
participation in the labour market.
However, there have been divergent opinions on the importance of female labour force and
its impact on a country’s economic growth. Some scholars think its importance is overrated
compared to other factors that can improve a country’s economic growth. Hickel (2014) opine
that the main factors that improve an economy are factors such as proper infrastructure and
access to quality education; to him these factors are under looked while female labour
development is wrongly accorded attention as a key driver of the economy. As economic
growth increases, the number of female labour force experiences a drop at the early stages,
and begins to increase at the following stages. Economists might not be aware of the effects of
the higher number of female labour force. In fact, they see it as a good measure to supplement
the household’s income, hence ensuring economic growth (Bhalla and Kaur, 2011). They seem
to disregard a potential problem that might loom on the horizon if there are a large number of
females in the labour force. An outbreak of child abuse sometimes happen due to the increase
in number of female labour force participation, thus perplexing researchers from social

Mean of FLFPR by YEAR

60.75

60.70

60.65

60.60

60.55

60.50

60.45

60.40

60.35

Figure 1. 60.30
The mean of current
FLFPR over time 60.25
(1991–2019)
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
science fields. Aykuz (2015) explained the relationship between women labour force FLFPR and
participation and growth. Specifically, he discusses the impact that the level of gross economic
domestic product (GDP) has on female labour force participation and concluded that female
labour force participation changes with a country’s economic development.
growth in sub-
According to Aykuz’s (2015) modernization theory, when GDP reduces, female work force Saharan Africa
participation increases due to subsistence farming being the main source of income for less-
developed countries. As a country develops, female labour participation decreases as males
take on manufacturing and service jobs to provide for the household and women become stay 37
at home mothers. When GDP increases, female work force participation increases, especially
in the service sector. Increased female labour force participation with increased GDP is the
result of increasing female educational attainment, allowing females to take on more technical
jobs (Luci, 2009). Akyeampong and Fofack (2013) postulated that 1% reduction in the labour
force gender gap in Botswana, Kenya and Senegal increased GDP by 0.2%. Verick (2018)
acknowledged female labour force participation as a main driver of economic growth and
economic development in African countries, like South Africa and Tanzania. To him, there is
a significant rise in GDP due to higher labour input. As women earn money, the household’s
income increases thereby leading to more consumption of goods and services which increases
GDP. He said the impact of female work force participation on GDP is base on the grounds of
quality of female labour force participation and concluded that the more women migrate into
the service sector from the agricultural sector, the more the impact of female labour force
participation on economic development. Countries might have the same FLFPR but countries
with more women in the service sector will develop economically at a faster rate, all things
being equal.
The focus of this study is mainly to examine the contribution of FLFPR to economic growth
and to establish if there is a long-run causal relationship between FLFPR and economic growth
in the sub-Saharan Africa. The results will establish if female labour force participation in sub-
Saharan Africa is a liability or an asset to the region. The result of this paper will inform policy
makers and governments in Africa and sub-Saharan region in particular on the main factors
that influence women participation in the labour market. This will enable them to formulate
and implement policies that consider both supply and demand-side dimensions to enhance
employment for women and reduce gender disparities in the labour market.

2. Literature review
This next section presents an overview on the context and trends in female labour force
participation in SSA as against male labour force, the supporting theories and the empirical
review.

2.1 Conceptual review

The conceptual review will present female labour force participation in SSA compared with
male labour force. According to the World Bank Development Indicator (2020), there is a
considerable difference between female and male labour force participation rate in sub-
Saharan Africa spanning from 1991 to 2019. Male labour force still substantially dominate
female labour in the labour market in sub-Saharan Africa with an average mean of 61.2 for
female labour force as against 75.5 mean average for male labour force. According to Çatalbaş
(2015) labour participation rates vary widely between men and women.
As a result, governments and other stakeholders have put in place measures to improve on
female labour force supply. The United Nations International Conferences on Females, which
began in 1985, gave positive support to women who are relentless in their fight for equal
opportunities. Conferences and regional follow-up held by this body have provided a forum
for African women to devotedly pursue their own interests for the first time in modern
JBSED African history. According to ILO (2013) many African governments have set up women’s
2,1 ministries, the appointment of women to high levels of government increased funding for
female education and technological networking opportunities among women’s organizations.
Women’s organizations worldwide have been strengthened. Despite these measures, the level
of female participation in the labour force remains comparatively small. In the new era of
globalization in which many African women including sub-Saharan women are seen to be the
backbones of their families, patriarchal inclinations continue to manipulate the gender
38 division of labour in favour of men. The rationale is that men are “providers and supporters”
of the family while women are dependants and are mere caregivers (Forgha and Mbella,
2016). As such, this paper is meant to examine the contribution of female labour force
participation to economic growth and to establish if there is a long-run causal relationship
between female labour force participation and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

2.2 Theoretical frame work

The labour participation rate of an economy is considered as one of the most important
production factors that determines economic growth and development. The participation rate
of female labour force in the total labour force is complex to explain and differ around the
world. Some of the theories that guide this paper work are;
2.2.1 Human capital theory. Human capital theory (HCT) is based on the assumption that
quality education is highly recommended and is necessary to improve the productive
capacity of the population in an economy. The theories argue that an educated population is a
productive population. According to Pierce-Brown (1998), human capital stock concept has
been widely used by labour economists since the 1960s. The individual’s capital stock has an
“innate ability” and can be extended to (1) prior participation in the labour force by education,
(2) during employment through on-the-job training and (3) experience. According to the
theory female with middle-school education or higher education have more economic
advantage than women without formal education (Nam, 1991). The HCT, according to Pierce-
Brown (1998), is the first distinctive theory that analyses the gap between the male and female
wage. The theory emphasizes voluntary choices as determiners of differences of occupation
and remuneration during the lifetimes of employees. An early advocate of the HCT is Becker
(1975). Becker postulated that over their working life, women on average are less productive
as compared to men because they tend to take an employment break for maternity leave and
childcare. More so, women bear the prime responsibility of the unremunerated domestic
chores. Thus, the HCT emphasizes the importance of education and training in the
development of human capital.
HCT considers that female labour force participation (L) is influenced by women’s
productive economic advantage reflected by their level of education (E), their non-human
capital assets (A), the child survival rate after birth (S) and the social environment influence
(T). The education of women is generally expected to have a positive impact on labour market
participation, and at the same time reduces the number of children born to the woman.
2.2.2 Work-leisure choice theory. Mincer (1962) developed the neoclassical microeconomics
model known as Work-Leisure Choice model. The model considered that households;
suppliers of labour in an economy are rational and seek to maximize their utility; deciding on
the proportion of time to devote to work and the proportion to devote for leisure. The trade-off
happens when the female chooses how to allocate time with both alternatives. The Work-
Leisure Choice theory was also explained by Psacharopoulos and Tzannatos (1989) who
further postulated that since the choice is based on the payment from work (wage rate) then
the more the pay rate, the less attractive leisure becomes and the more eye-catching work
becomes. This assertion has two effects: income effect and the substitution effect. Firstly, for
any person who is jobless, a higher wage may encourage them to join the labour market for
the opportunity cost of not working will increase hence, higher wages are said to stimulate FLFPR and
higher participation in workforce. Secondly, for those already working, a higher wage makes economic
work more interesting and attractive since it has a higher rate of return than leisure.
Encouraging work force participation or putting in more in work as a result of an increase in
growth in sub-
the wage rate is referred to as the substitution effect as leisure time becomes more costly. Saharan Africa
People tend to devote more time for work rather and less time for leisure. On the other hand, as
wage rate increases, an individuals’ real income rises this leads to an increase in the
consumption of normal goods and if as previously assumed leisure is a normal good, increase 39
in wage would motivate individuals to consume larger quantity (time) of leisure and reduce
hours of work and that is known as the income effect resulting from a wage swell (FRF, 1979;
Heckman, 2014).

3. Empirical review of FLFPR

Most empirical studies examined and documented the U-shaped hypotheses by analysing the
relationship between FLFPRs and economic development and growth. Khaliq et al. (2017)
examined the relationship between FLFPR and economic growth in Pakistan using time
series data from 1990 to 2014. Using the error correction model (ECM) and Johansen
co-integration tests, the results indicated that there exist a long-run and a U-shaped link
between economic growth and FLFPR in Pakistan. Saqib et al. (2016) explored the
relationship between economic growth and female employment in one stage by employing
ordinary least squares (OLS) from 1999 to 2014. The results show that as economic growth is
boosted, female employment will increase simultaneously in Saudi Arabia.
Fertility is one of the research’s controllable variables, and it’s widely acknowledged as one
of the key predictors of FLFPR, and it’s been examined extensively in the literature (Oshio,
2019; Shittu and Abdullah, 2019; Tong and Gong, 2020; Klasen et al., 2020). Despite differing
opinions on the impact of fertility on FLFPR and the methodology used to quantify it,
researchers have come to the conclusion that fertility is one of the most important drivers of
FLFPR. On the other hand, the economic development controlling factors which were
categorized under socio-economic and labour market conditions were examined and
documented as basic determinants for FLFPRs (Chen et al., 2014; Szulga, 2014; Tsani et al.,
2013; Yousefy, 2011; Fatmia and Sultana, 2009; Jaumotte, 2003). Among these are the
educational attainment, wage rate, household income, fertility rate, marital status,
unemployment rate and urbanization rate. The studies recognized a significant effect on
education, urbanization and low fertility rate on FLFPR, while female participation rates
varied across countries in terms of unemployment rate. Forgha and Mbella (2016) investigated
the implication of female labour force using time series data. Adopting Generalized Method of
Moments (GMM) estimation, they observed that fertility rate; dependency ratios per capita
income, male labour force are clear determinants of female labour force in Cameroon.
On the contrary, several empirical studies did not support the hypothesis and found that
the U-shaped relationship was not applicable in some countries which are characterized with
high social and religious restrictions on women’s desire to work. Dogan and Aky€ uz (2017)
investigated the relationship between economic growth and female participation in Turkey
using co-integration technique and Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) with
quarterly data from 2000 to 2010. Their findings reported a reverse U-shaped relationship
between economic growth and FLFPR. Lahoti and Swaminathan (2013) explored the
relationship between economic development and female labour supply using data from 1983
to 1984 to 2011–2012 in India with OLS technique. The empirical findings did not support the
U-shaped hypothesis, rather revealed no significant relationship between economic growth
and FLFPRs. Subramaniam et al. (2015) and Mishra and Smyth (2010) in their study, observed
an inverse connection between fertility rate and female workforce participation among 28
JBSED OECD and ASEAN countries. Idowu and Owoeye (2019) employ seemingly unrelated
2,1 regression (SUREG) including control variables such as female education, fertility and
manufacturing growth rate for geographically sub-grouped 20 African countries, and they
suggest that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship. Abdullah and Bakar (2011)
investigated the causal relationship between Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Women Labour
Force Participation Rate (WLFPR) in the four selected ASEAN countries from 1980 to 2008.
Using the Engle–Granger test for causality, the results showed that there exist long-run
40 relationships among variables in the four countries.

4. Data and methodology

We collected data from the World Bank’s Development Indicators Database. In total, our
country sample consists of 42 [1] out of the 48 SSA countries specified by the world. This
study examines the contribution of FLFPR to economic growth and establishes if there is a
long-run causal relationship between FLFPR and economic growth in the sub-Saharan
Africa. An econometric model is use to examine female labour force participation and
economic growth. Economic growth is the dependent variable while FLFPR is the
independent variable together with other explanatory variables. The choice of variables
for FLFPR and economic growth are based on ILO and the World Bank’s Development
indicators and subject to data availability for the period (1991–2019) using annual Data.

4.1 Model specification

In order to examine the relationship between female labour force participation and economic
growth in sub-Saharan Africa, we carefully took into consideration the study objective,
theoretical framework and ample empirical verification along with the distinctiveness of the
sub-Saharan Africa environment. The model specification for economic growth and female
labour force was adapted and modified from the recent and renown works of Oshio (2019);
Shittu and Abdullah (2019); Tong and Gong (2020) and Klasen et al. (2020) used in their model.
GDPit 5 F(FLFPR MLFPR, FRF, URB SEMF).
Accordingly, the log estimated model will be specified as:
LNGDP ¼ β0 þ β1 LNFLFPRit t þ β2 LNMLFPRit þ β3 LNSEMFit þ β4 LNURPit
þ β5 LNFRFit þ εt (1)

where
Dependent Variables
GDPit 5 GDPit per capita (annual %) . . .. . .. . .. . .for equation . . .. . .1
Explanatory Variables
FLFPRit 5 Female Labour Force Participation Rate of country i at time t
MLFPRit 5 Male Labour Force Participation Rate, (% of male population ages 15þ)
(modelled ILO estimate) of country i at time t
SEMFit 5 Self-employed, females (% of female employment) (modelled ILO estimate) of
country i at time t
URPit 5 Urban population (% of total population) of country i at time t
FRFit 5 Fertility rate, total (births per woman) of country i at time t
5. Presentation and discussion of results FLFPR and
5.1 Descriptive statistics and stationarity test economic
Table 1 shows that gross domestic product per capita (GDP) has an average value of
53.22831% with a standard deviation of 601.1790%, a maximum value of 19703.95% and a
growth in sub-
minimum value of 3.05E-06%. This shows that the GDP has been fluctuating over the years of Saharan Africa
study. FLFPR has a mean value of 61.20712%, a standard deviation 15.83968%, a Maximum
Value of 90.33100% and a Minimum Value of 24.22500%. Male labour force participation rate
(MLFPR) has an average value of 75.48188%, a standard error of 9.763754% ranging from 41
93.90800% maximum value to 49.66600% minimum value. This also clearly indicates that men
participate more in labour force as compared to women. Self-employed female (SEMF) shows a
mean value 78.17648%, standard deviation 23.55348%, a maximum value of 99.23000% and a
min. value of 11.81600%. Urban population (URP) has an average value of 36.34945%, a
standard error 15.80359% ranging from 89.37000% maximum value to 5.491000% minimum
value. Fertility rate of birth per female (FRF) has an average value of 5.217674%, a standard
error 1.261193% ranging from 7.761000% maximum value to 1.360000% minimum value.
Furthermore, the descriptive statistical analysis revealed that, GDP and URP were
positively skewed meaning that, their mean are peaked to the right of the distribution while
FLFPR, MLFPR SEMF and FRF were all negatively skewed meaning that the mean were
peaked to the left (negative skewness).
The coefficient of the kurtosis of FLRPR and MLFPR was below 3.000, meaning that they
are platokurtic relative to the normal, meaning that their distribution produces fewer and less
extreme outliers than does the normal distribution. However, the coefficient of the kurtosis for
GDP, SEMFR, URP and FRF were all above 3.000, meaning that they are leptokurtic relative
to the normal, meaning that their distribution produces more and more extreme outliers than
the mesokurtic distribution.
Generally, it can be observed from the Jarque–Bera and probability statistics that all the
variables under the study are not normally distributed since their probability value is less
than 5%. The descriptive statistics in Table 1 was done with the raw data and not the
transformed data.
Finally before presenting the results of the model specified above, we start by testing for
the panel stationarity of the variables used in our models. This will give a feel of our data set
and the kind of analysis most suitable to run.
Table 1 also shows that this paper employs four types of unit root tests which are Levin,
Lin and Chu (LLC) test, Im, Pesaranand Shin (IPS) test, Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) test
and Phillips–Perron (PP) test to check the stationarity properties of the variance. Some of the
variables are stationary at level, I(0) while others are stationary at first difference, I(1). This
approach can see long-run and short-run responses from dependent variables to changes in
independent variables (Gujarati 2003). In the Case of Table 1, four out of six of our variables
that is female labour force participation rate (LNFLFPR), male labour force participation rate
(LNMLFPR), Self-employed female (LNSEMF) and Fertility rate of birth per female (LNFRF)
are stationary at first difference while GDP per capita (LNGDP) and Urbanization of total
population (LNURP) are stationary at level. The next test before we carry out the ARDL
approach will be the Hausman test. The Hausman test determines whether the test should
base its analysis on the fixed effect or the random effect model.

5.2 Hausman test and estimate of long-run and short-run relationship using ARDL
The null hypothesis for the Hausman test is that there is no correlation between the
explanatory variables and the error term in the model (random effect model), while the
alternative hypothesis is that there is correlation between the explanatory variables and
the error term in the model (fixed effect model).
 2,1

42

Table 1.
JBSED

and stationarity test

Descriptive statistics
GDP FLFPR MLFPR SEMF URP FRF

Mean 53.22831 61.20712 75.48188 78.17648 36.34945 5.217674

Median 7.731917 64.23950 77.08700 88.62600 35.60650 5.362500
Maximum 19703.95 90.33100 93.90800 99.23000 89.37000 7.761000
Minimum 3.05E  06 24.22500 49.66600 11.81600 5.491000 1.360000
Std. Dev 601.1790 15.83968 9.763754 23.55348 15.80359 1.261193
Skewness 30.11520 0.396284 0.408570 1.484238 0.589575 0.577155
Kurtosis 974.3301 2.317738 2.498323 3.961707 3.310345 3.170622
Jarque–Bera 46,408,384 53.58867 45.05045 477.1000 72.84883 66.71557
Probability 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Sum 62596.49 71979.57 88766.69 91935.55 42746.96 6135.985
Sum sq. Dev 4.25 E þ 08 294802.0 112013.8 651850.5 293460.5 1868.963
Observations 1,176 1,176 1,176 1,176 1,176 1,176

Stationarity test
Variables Levin, Lin and Chu t* Im, Pesaran and Shin W-stat ADF – Fisher chi-square PP–Fisher chi-square Order

LNGDP –37.1658*** –40.6670*** 1029.41*** 1103.31*** I(0)

LNFLFPR –4.83527*** –5.74078*** 190.847*** 195.766*** 1(1)
LNMLFPR –3.86136*** –5.30338*** 179.423*** 145.857*** I(1)
LNSEMF –5.27378*** –7.58473*** 262.437*** 296.954*** I(1)
LNURP –2.46049*** 2.16898 191.488*** 350.741*** I(0)
LNFRF –10.2707*** –9.48141*** 306.427*** 93.0993 I(1)
Note(s): ***, **, and * represents 1%, 5% and 10% significant level respectively
Source(s): Eview version 10 calculations
 The Hausman test in Table 2 results shows that the probability of chi2 is statistically FLFPR and
significant (with p-values of 0.0445) at the 5% level, therefore we reject the null hypothesis economic
(random effect model) and accept the alternative hypothesis (fixed effect model) that there is
correlation between the explanatory variables and the error term. Having established that our
growth in sub-
preferred model is fixed effect model over random effect model with the help of the Hausman Saharan Africa
test, the ARDL model of long run and short run is established.
From Table 2 also, the results show that female labour participation rate negatively and
significantly contributes to economic growth (GDP) is sub-Saharan Africa in the long run 43
with an insignificantly negative contribution in the short run. This implies that a unit rise in
female labour force produces a decrease of 8.09 units in economic growth. This confirms to
what some scholars think that the importance of FLFPR is overrated compared to other
factors that can improve a country’s economy growth Lahoti and Swaminathan (2013).
Another issue of this negative effect might be resulting from increase in birth rate and the

Correlated random effects–Hausman test

Equation: Untitled
Test cross-section random effects
Test summary Chi-Sq. Statistic Chi-Sq. d.f Prob
Cross-section random 11.369423 5 0.0445

Cross-section random effects test comparisons

Variable Fixed Random Var (Diff.) Prob
LNFLFPR 2.969501 0.138211 2.461991 0.0712
LNMLFPR 1.125913 1.927930 4.108262 0.1319
LNSEMF 2.420681 0.135465 1.076291 0.0276
LNURP 0.332488 0.032999 0.510802 0.6752
LNFRF 1.716545 0.218438 0.785369 0.0909

Estimate of Long-Run and Short-Run Relationship Using ARDL

Dependent variable: D(LNGDP2)
Method: ARDL
Dynamic regressors (2 lags, automatic): LNFLFPR LNMLFPR LNSEMF LNURB LNFRF
Fixed regressors: C
Note: Final equation sample is larger than selection sample

Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-statistic Prob.*

Long-run equation
LNFLFPR 8.093490 2.205409 3.669836 0.0003***
LNMLFPR 5.070979 2.963674 1.711045 0.0874*
LNSEMF 2.691242 1.323378 2.033615 0.0423**
LNURP 2.225341 1.038062 2.143745 0.0323**
LNFRF 2.949685 1.113198 2.649740 0.0082***
Short run equation
COINTEQ01 0.080223 0.035582 30.35883 0.0000***
D(LNFLFPR) 268.3109 216.2156 1.240941 0.2150
D(LNMLFPR) 207.9931 86.27493 2.410817 0.0161**
D(LNSEMF) 468.2731 399.1108 1.173291 0.2410
D(LNURP) 447.1900 196.7373 2.273031 0.0233**
Table 2.
D(LNFRF) 47.90231 57.38784 0.834712 0.4041 Hausman test and
C 6.842067 2.950585 2.318885 0.0206 estimate of long-run
Note(s): Estimated cross-section random effect variance is zero and short-run
***, **, and * represents 1, 5 and 10% respectively relationship
Source(s): Eview version 10 calculations using ARDL
JBSED more intensive care they need to give to these children. This forces them to make a trade-off
2,1 between taking part in the labour force and taking care of their children and family. The
ultimate choice is often family concerns and the opportunity cost is taking part in the labour
force which does not reflect on the GDP. The results are also consistent with the findings of
Porter and King (2009), and Forgha and Mbella (2016) and the human capital theory who
found a negative contribution of female labour force on economic growth. The male labour
force indicates a positive and significant coefficient only at 10% level in the long run and a
44 significantly positive contribution to GDP in the short run at 5%. This means that the
contribution of male labour force to GDP can only be felt at 10% significant level in the long
term in sub-Saharan Africa. This result confirms that as a country develops, female labour
participation decreases as males take on manufacturing and service jobs to provide for the
household and women become stay at home mothers. The result is still also consistent with
the work of Forgha and Mbella (2016).
Female self-employment significantly and positively contributes to GDP in the long
term but negatively and insignificantly influences GDP in the short term. The result is in
line with expectations and theory. When women are self-employed, economic growth
increases. For total population in urban area, it positively and significantly contributes to
the GDP in both short and long run, indicating an agreement with expectation and theory.
Female fertility rate has a negative and significant contribution to GDP in the long run with
an insignificant positive influence on GDP in the short run, meaning that as GDP increases
the fertility rate reduces and as fertility rate increases GDP reduces hence an inverse
relationship thereby obeying the economic apriori expectation. Therefore, for sub-Saharan
Africa’s GDP to increase, female labour has to postpone child birth so that the women can
be integrated into the various sectors like agriculture, industrial and service sectors so as to
contribute to the overall GDP. The inverse relationship result of fertility rate is consistent
with the work of Subramaniam et al. (2015) and Mishra and Smyth (2010) who found an
inverse relationship between fertility rate and female labour force participation.
The coefficient of the Error Correction Term, ECT, is 0.080223, which implies that the
speed of adjustment to long-run equilibrium is approximately 8% annually therefore in the
current period; the mistakes generated in the previous period are corrected. The ECT is
rightly sign and statistically significant at the 1% level which confirms a long-run causality
of FLFPR on economic growth. The results are in line with the results of Khaliq et al. (2017),
Mujahid et al. (2013) and Saqib et al. (2016), who all saw a long-run causal relationship
between FLFPR and economic growth.

5.3 Granger causality test

Based on Table 3, applying Granger Causality test, it is evident that economic growth
granger-causes FLFPR, male labour force participation rate and urban population rate at the
1 and 5% level of significance and the direction of causality is a unidirectional causality and
the flow is from GDP to female and male labour force participation rate and urban population
rate. This simply explains that GDP gives rise to female and male labour force participation
including the rate of those who leave rural area to go to urban towns. Self-employment of
female and fertility rate of women present no causality and it’s inconclusive in terms of
direction. Meaning that we cannot say if it is GDP that causes self-employment of women and
fertility rate or is self-employment of women and fertility rate that causes GDP to rise.

6. Conclusion and policy implication

6.1 Conclusion
This study examines the contribution of FLFPR to economic growth and establishes if there
is a long-run causal relationship between FLFPR and economic growth in the sub-Saharan
Africa spanning from 1991 to 2019. Before estimating the panel model, we employed unit root FLFPR and
tests to check the stationary properties of the data. After conducting the unit root test, we economic
discovered that the variable did not have the same order of integration hence we use the panel
ARDL approach to estimate the model.
growth in sub-
Empirical results confirm the existence of a U-shape relationship between GDP and female Saharan Africa
labour participation rate in sub-Saharan Africa as established by Figure 1 of our work. Based
on the Granger Causality test, it is evident that economic growth Granger-causes FLFPR,
male labour force participation rate and urban population rate at the 1 and 5% level of 45
significance and the direction of causality is a unidirectional causality and the flow is from
GDP to female and male labour force participation rate and urban population rate. This
simply explains that GDP gives rise to female and male labour force participation including
urbanization of population. Self-employment of female and fertility rate of women present no
causality and it’s inconclusive in terms of direction. Meaning that we cannot say if it is GDP
that causes self-employment of women and fertility rate or is self-employment of women and
fertility rate that causes GDP.
Furthermore, the results show that female labour participation rate negatively and
significantly contributes to economic growth (GDP) in sub-Saharan Africa in the long run
with an insignificantly negative contribution in the short run. This means that female labour
force participation instead of being a plus to the GDP tends to reduce the GDP of sub-Saharan
Africa hence a liability. These results are in line with the work of Porter and King (2009),
Akyeampong and Fofack (2013) and Forgha and Mbella (2016).

6.2 Policy implications

Based on the findings women who raise future generations should not be denied the same
privileges that men enjoy in society because being actively involved in production activities
without separating women and man is the foundation of a country’s overall development. It is
recommended that policymakers should encourage female labour force participation by
facilitating the process for women to access better jobs including access to better training
programs and education, access to credit and access to supportive services. Promoting
women economic empowerment can be used as a tool to cope with the decrease in labour
force. Policymakers should devote more efforts to rendering labour market conditions more
female-friendly through revisiting the institutional environment. This can be done by
reducing gender discrimination mainly in private and public sectors where the majority of
female employment is concentrated. More so, it is recommended that more effort should be
made in reducing the fertility rate in the regions through education, since the two will improve
on female labour force participation as seen from the human capital theory. This can also be
done through increased family planning awareness and utilization through outreach
campaigns and messages in the media, enlisting community leaders and women’s groups and

Causality flow F–statistics Remarks Direction (General)

LNFLFPR and LNGDP 5.76744 (0.0165)** Causality Unidirectional

LNGDP2 and LNFLFPR 0.00124 (0.9719) No causality
LNMLFPR and LNGDP 10.2451 (0.0014)*** Causality Unidirectional
LNGDP and LNMLFPR 0.98910 (0.3202) No causality
LNSEMF and LNGDP 2.50001 (0.1141) No causality Inconclusive
LNGDP and LNSEMF 2.29334 (0.1302) No causality
LNURB and LNGDP 0.55529 (0.4563) No causality Unidirectional Table 3.
LNGDP and LNURP 12.9177 (0.0003)*** Causality Pair-wise Granger
Note(s): ***, **, and * represents 1%, 5% and 10% significant level respectively causality test
JBSED providing family planning services that incorporate counselling. Finally the governments of
2,1 SSA should make efforts to promote female labour force participation; as sub-Saharan Africa
will benefit from the growth that it generates.

7. Research limitation and directions for future studies

Given that this study grouped SSA countries with varying social, cultural and institutional
46 environments together, the conclusions’ validity may be questioned. Additional variables
(mortality rate, young children or childbearing, marital status and educational level) could
help shed further light on the FLFPR issue. The results of the study should be interpreted
with caution.

Note
1. The countries used in the analysis are Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Dem. Rep, Congo, Rep, Cote d’Ivoire,
Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,
Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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Corresponding author
Kesuh Jude Thaddeus can be contacted at: kesuhjude1@gmail.com

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